Category Archives: Travel

Dashing through December

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So, it’s only early 2015, and December is already a blur. We had a nice Christmas, trying our best to keep things as non-complicated and stress-free as possible, as well as very focused on Jesus.

But man, even with mucho intentionality and diligence, simplifying anything — much less the holiday mania that takes over for the last quarter of the calendar year — is still just incredibly challenging in our culture. Fighting social conformity can be downright exhausting.

Zeke, Houston & Gabriel in one of a slew of incredible pics of the kids taken by the super-talented Miss Christie during a fall photo shoot at Old Mill of Guilford.

That’s not to say we didn’t some holly-jolly fun, though. The boys and I trekked up to Richmond to see family early in the month. Gramsey and Papa even watched the dudes one evening so that I could spend some quality time with my oldest pal in the world, Ingrid.

We did Thai with Lisa, Dina, and Meredith and then hit a brew pub. Angela and Shelley met up with us there, and then the four of us headed down to my old stomping ground of the Fan for more drinks and shenanigans. Good times, great oldies!

The 3 Amigos got to play laser tag twice last month. Their first time was on a boys-only outing (that also included bowling) with Daddy, and Mr. Jeremy and Bret — some cools pals we met through the J-Crew.

Wow, “double trouble” have never looked cuter!

Granny took the boys to laser tag the next time, but we insisted they pay for it themselves, since it adds up to be quite the pricey outing. Plus, those kids’ piggy banks never seem to be lacking in cold, hard cash. Just a little economics 101.

As mentioned previously, Houston is finally questioning the existence of the man in the red suit. I think the little kid in him is still clinging a tiny bit to the festive fable. But the logical big boy in him is simply questioning the irrationality of it all.

“I think Santa is Mommy,” Houston announced to his bros. “Uh, but Mommy doesn’t even have a beard,” retorted Zeke with matter-of-fact confidence and a bit of disdain for the premise itself. Yep, he and Gabe remain steadfast Santa believers for sure!

Oh my, what a handsome young man!

The dudes received many wonderful Christmas gifts, some for fun (Monopoly, Battleship, a BB gun, the Star Wars DVD box set); some educational (Story of the World audio book, art supplies, a veritable library of great books); and others more utilitarian (luggage, water bottles, ear protection for target practice).

They also gave, including a $5-each donation toward the “Make Cornbread, Not War” baseball cap I bought Daddy (with his own money, of course) per his request. Gabriel and Zeke are extremely generous kids, always willing to donate a decent amount of money to whatever the good cause.

Houston, on the other hand, is pretty stingy, and usually has to be gently coaxed into being more charitable. Maybe that’s because he has a better understanding of money and math. But still, sharing one’s blessings with a grateful heart is an important lesson.

The 3 Amigos doing what they do best: loving & laughing. This one is my favorite Old Mill photo.

We watched Phish’s live webcast from Miami for New Year’s Eve, and the boys actually stayed up till midnight, thanks to mucho Dr. Pepper early in the evening and coffee cocktails (comprised of mostly creamer with a dash of joe) for the last stretch of the night.

Here are some highlights:

  • “My favorite band is Phish,” Gabriel proclaimed only a couple songs into the show.
  • “I just can’t help myself,” Zeke admitted about his need to boogie down.
  • “When the music’s louder, I dance better,” Gabe explained.
  • “I’m doing some mighty mad mojo,” Zeke added.
  • “I need some caffeine to stay awake! Anybody got any caffeine?” a tired Houston pleaded as we neared midnight.

Just like the old days: Shelley, Ingrid, Angela & I drinking too much beer & having fun. Good times, bad hangover.

Gabriel recently said, “I like girls better than boys,” adding that he has three girlfriends: the preacher’s daughter, a crush from the CC practicum last summer, and an older neighbor (she’s 9). Our ladies’ man has since modified that number down to a modest two.

Although definitely a lover, Gabriel is also quite the fighter. In fact, Sunday marked the first time he truly retaliated against big brother’s “man-handling.” It was such a fierce display of self-defense that Houston even shed a few tears. The ever-changing dynamic of three brothers so close in age sure is an incredible thing to behold.

Sweet things

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“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

Clan Dillingham kicks back during the annual hay ride up the mountain to get our Christmas tree. (This year, we named our Fraser fir Navi.)

Our lives have been filled with many sweet things recently. First, we successfully wrapped our fall semesters of CC community and Spanish lessons just before Thanksgiving.

School still marches on around here during the holiday, though, since I’m the queen of playing catch-up. But it’s so nice to have a much less hurried schedule.

The extra time has allowed the twins to do speech therapy twice a week just for December. Their therapists say they’ve both made tremendous progress and are so close to nailing all the sounds with which they formerly struggled, so this is simply to give them an extra boost.

The obligatory dudes-with-Santa Claus photo taken during our annual holiday outing to Sugar Plum Farm.

Doing extra appointments was my idea, since we have decided not to do speech therapy in the new year. It’s insanely expensive, and we have no plans to meet our insurance deductible in 2015. (Of course, we say that every year, and somehow, we always do.)

But more importantly, the therapists and I agree that it’s really not necessary, since Gabe and Zeke are on the right path to better articulation, improved mouth and tongue control, breaking old habits of improper speech, and self-correcting when they say something incorrectly. Way to go, boys!

Sure Gabriel and Zeke face challenges in some areas (as we all do!), but they also excel in other areas, like their natural musical ability. In fact, they’ve really shown an impassioned interest in piano as of late, so much so that Houston has been giving them “lessons.”

A napping Granny makes a comfy pillow on which Houston relaxes during our time in the mountains for Thanksgiving.

Therefore, we thought it was high time they has their “official assessment” with Miss Julie, Houston’s beloved piano teacher. Turns out that Gabe and Zeke passed their tests of fine motor skills, basic knowledge (like knowing right from left), musical understanding (such as repeating rhythms), and overall maturity with flying colors. Yee haw!

So, once we find an open and easy spot on our calendar, and tweak our budget to be able to afford triple the lessons, they’ll be tickling the ivories just like big bro. This will probably happen in late spring-early summer, once CC and Spanish wrap. Until then, they’ll keep on happily improvising with Houston and jamming out their own original ditties.

Much like the twins speech therapy, I won’t be going to physical therapy in 2015, since I’ve also improved dramatically. Thank the Lord … and thanks for paying for all my PT and chiropractor visits, Stephen! I’ve gotten way stronger and more flexible, and am in far less pain than I had been.

The 3 Amigos enjoy our educational jaunt to Linville Caverns, located within Humpback Mountain, just outside of Marion, NC.

Do I still have occasional issues? Sure, but at least now I feel like I now have the body of 43 year old, and not the body of a decrepit, debilitated geezer of 83.

Plus, I know how to manage and diminish my aches and pains now: daily stretching and strength training, frequent low-impact exercise, using a heating pad nightly, and glopping on the icy hot when need be. It’s all finally under control.

We went to Granny’s for Thanksgiving, and got to see a ton of family. From the Norwoods of Michigan, to the Biddix crew, who are spread far and wide across Carolina, it was a holly-jolly good time!

Houston & Zeke play around in Sugar Plum’s toy train — always a favorite during our time @ the choose-and-cut tree farm.

In addition to making our annual trek to Sugar Plum Farms, we also ventured to Linville Caverns. This was the boys’ first taste of learning about stalactites and stalagmites, and they seemed to appreciate exploring this cool geological wonder. (Getting them some fool’s gold from the gift shop didn’t hurt either.)

Another night, we adventured to an overlook near Marion to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Brown Mountain Lights. No such luck witnessing the fabled “ghost lights,” but it sure was fun trying.

What’s interesting is that their most talked-about memory of Thanksgiving was a commercial they saw of young girl twerking in her “skivvies” (as the boys, in all their beautiful innocence, describe undies) while watching a Christmas movie on a supposedly family-friendly channel. Uggh! Oh, how I love my Netflix.

Gabriel rides on Clifford the Big Red Dog during our outing to Safari Nation.

It’s happening: Houston is finally starting to have doubts about this whole Santa thing. During our first viewing of “Elf” for the season, he asked, “So, do parents really leave the gifts?!” My response was vague but effective, I think: “Just believe what you want to believe, sweetie.”

More proof of the kids growing up way too fast: “Mommy, I want to be a policeman,” explained Houston the other day. “Why is that?” I inquired.

“Because I like manhandling people,” replied the very-tall-for-his-age child who has been known to rough-house way too often with his little bros. Such a matter-of-fact worldly comment from such a still-so-young dude.

Zeke decided to cheers Navi with his hot cocoa. If that’s not holly-jolly enough for you, you should hear his impromptu Christmas singing … so cute!

Some other “sweet things” we’ve been up to:

  • Going to Asher’s 8th birthday party, held a week before the J-Crew’s big move south;
  • Spending some last memorable minutes with the J-Crew while helping them pack up their moving truck;
  • Attending a Mercy Hill homeschool playdate, where we feasted on potluck goodies and the boys made Jesse Tree ornaments;
  • Meeting out our old pals, Miss Beth, Mr. Alan, Matthew, and Jonathan, for lunch and then lots of shenanigans at a bounce house;
  • and the boys enjoying lots of map drawing and chapter-book reading … Houston even read “Moby Dick.” Yep, sweet for sure!

Fall’s a-flying

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Stephen and I went to our very first marriage retreat the weekend before our 14th anniversary on 10/14. We have been talking about attending one for a few years now, but we finally made it happen … and boy, was it worth it!

“Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener!”

These “getaways” are aimed at Christian couples, from newlyweds, to folks whose marriage just needs a tune-up, to some who are even on the brink of calling it quits. Stephen and I fell in the middle category, so we chose break-out sessions that met our needs for enrichment.

Here we are on day 1 of our LIfeWay Marriage Getaway @ the Ridgecrest Conference Center, near Black Mountain, NC.

The themes were varied, but the overarching message of the weekend is that God designed marriage to be a celebration and reflection of His love for us. So, why would we willfully want to degrade this beautiful gift that God has given us?

After all, God is the Creator of diversity. It’s a declaration of his handiwork, so we need to affirm the differences between a husband and wife (which can so often be the cause of marital stress), instead of condemning it. Of course, this can be difficult sometimes, as a man and woman’s nature are oftentimes seemingly so at odds.

But God created us to have unique roles that reflect the divergent aspects and characteristics of Himself, so those differences which can divide are actually assets, not burdens and stresses. And harmony in marriage will result from embracing our complimentary variances.

Check out Zeke and Gabriel’s serious-to-terrified expressions just before riding the Haunted Train on 10/24. Don’t worry … they survived unscathed, and declared it to be “awesome!”

As author Gary Chapman put it during his session: “Each of us has a primary love language. Seldom do a husband and wife have the same, and by nature we speak our love language.

“So, we must learn to speak their language … (and) if it doesn’t come natural, it’s an even greater act of love. Love is something you do for the other person, not for yourself.”

“If I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:2

But for a spouse to do this effectively, he or she must get right with God by first utilizing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

And by opening ourselves to God and His abundant strength, we can grow in dealing with our own flaws and sins, which then filters into our marriage and our treatment of our spouse. In short, it’s a heart issue. Like our pastor at Mercy Hill always says, true Christ-like behavior works from the inside out.

Zeke & Stanley admire “Turkey” the pumpkin. Don’t ask me … Gabriel named it.

The even bigger news of that weekend was that Stephen and I renewed our vows. Some of you may recall that we went way out of our way to exclude God from our very atheistic wedding, with our vows being more about each of us separately and what we brought to the table, and less about our union.

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” — Ecclesiastes 4:12

Our old vows were so much about self, instead of selflessness … hopes, instead of heartfelt promises … feel-good notions, instead of serious submission to one another … a 50/50 arrangement, instead of a devotion of each giving 100%.

Houston was originally going to be a “medieval zombie executioner,” but it eventually morphed into just a good ol ‘zombie. Scary!

In retrospect, it is so clear that God has always been with us, even back during our hostile-toward-Christianity days. And this just seemed like the perfect opportunity to publicly renew our commitment to one another by attesting that Christ is our foundation, and that through Him, we can win “the race.”

“Let us throw off everything that hinders & the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” — Hebrews 12:1

But how do we train for this race mentioned in Hebrews? Well, by being intentional in our love for Christ and for our spouse, and then we can achieve oneness in our relationship. But we must remember that marriage is a marathon, and each day is just part of the worthy and fulfilling quest.

Zeke & Gabriel are Steve from Minecraft. Great job on your homemade costumes, boys!

Gabriel and Zeke celebrated their 6th birthday on 10/16. Since this was a Thursday, we got together with some of our fave homeschool families, including crews from CC and church, as well as our wonderful homeschool neighbors, Shawn, Dixie, and Milton.

We started off at Putt-Putt for miniature golf and video games, and then hit Chick fil-A, where we took over the outdoor seating area for feasting on chicken and chocolate cake on the gorgeous fall day with which we had been blessed.

That night we had a sleepover with the twins’ buddies, Jackson and Alex. Gabe and Zeke had a blast during every part of their big day, as did I, since I was pretty doggone diligent about planning as low-maintenance and stress-free a day as possible.

Gabriel was the only Amigo brave enough to strike a pose w/ this huge skeleton & Mommy. The guy inside the costume explained that he crafted the long arms out of pool noodles and wire … so cool!

That Friday, Gramsey and Papa came to visit. They took care of the boys — thanks a million, y’all! — so Stephen and I could attend Poker For Preemies. This is an incredible annual fundraiser that helps raise money for premature babies, and special-needs and sick kids in our area.

It was an incredibly delightful evening, specifically because we got to hang with our great pals, Meredith and Greg (who happen to help organize the event). In addition to paying for our way into the gala, our awesome friends also hooked us up with starter chips for gambling. Mucho gracias, y’all!

The only gambling we did was Texas Hold ‘Em, but it was sooooo fun. I even won a hand! So, Stephen used all of our surplus chips, plus some additionally purchased chips, to enter a cool gift-basket raffle, which he then won. The odds were in our favor for sure!

Granny & I get prepped for a full night of spooky shenanigans & ghoulishly good times. Thanks for making Halloween so grand, Granny!

And did I mention there was an open bar, our local cigar guy doled out complimentary stogies, and we took a cab home?! Yep, we had a rockin’ wild night indeed!

Stephen and I took the kids to the Haunted Train in Burlington on 10/24. It was a short ride, but particularly sweet since Zeke didn’t get to ride the Halloween Train at the Transportation Museum some three years ago due to his fairly common tantrums back then. (If you recall, he didn’t get to go trick-or-treating that year either. Poor dude.)

So, this year’s jaunt was of especially significant to Zeke, who can finally say he has ridden a festive fall train. And it’s also a big deal across the board, as it was just a nice way to celebrate both his and his bros’ increasingly mature behavior. Way to go, 3 Amigos!

While @ the park on the twins’ birthday, Zeke masters swinging one high-wheel to the next — a feat that seems to impress onlookers Alex & Gabriel.

This was probably our most chill Halloween yet. We didn’t do any church trunk-or-treats or drive to any faraway locales to get candy. We stuck to our neighborhood, took a brief half-time to drop off the tired folks (Zeke and Granny), and then headed out for round 2 with the late-night adventurers: Houston, Gabe, Stephen, and I.

Dare-devil Gabriel even went up solo (with Daddy) to “the house with the bloody heads,” which the kids and I had been bike-riding to during the day as preparation for this All Hallow’s Eve night. Oh well, maybe next year, Houston!

Since they are bolting for a more Southern home this Friday, we have been trying to spend as much time with the J-Crew as possible. I recently had a girls-night out at a swanky tapas bar with Christie and her good pal, Tricia.

Some of our giddy birthday posse @ Chick fil-A on 10/16: (from L to R) Tyrnan, Houston, Jackson, Gabriel, Zeke, Eli, Briggs & Knox.

We also celebrated Asher’s 8th birthday; Houston partook in a last-hurrah sleepover; and then Stephen and I went out with Christie and Logan and their kind community group earlier this week. And I am crying just thinking about their move because Christie is so much more than a friend.

I joke to her, saying “Whose coattails am I going to ride on now?!” But it is the truth; she is my mentor in her faithful walk with Christ and her passionate call to homeschool her fearless threesome.

Christie is funny and smart, genuine and self-less, and always giving and grace-filled. She is authentic, never putting on airs. Her honesty, realness, and forthrightness are such rarities to behold in this age of pretend and plastic.

My great pal, Christie, & I in the only pic of the two of us in existence. Funny thing about that is that she & her hubby are professional photographers … memory-card-erasing slackers!

She is a lifelong-learner who is thoughtful, inquisitive, and opinionated, but not easily offended. Christie is also a person who is amazingly open-minded and ready to hear new things or just old things from a different perspective. Seems oxymoronic to possess such diverse traits in our coarse culture.

But that is precisely why she will be so missed. Thank you for making me a better person, Christie, and for welcoming my brood into the fold of your incredible family’s adventures these last three fun-filled years. May God bless y’all in the Holy City!

By the way, I’m in the market for a new best bud. So, if you enjoy a good intellectual challenge, like discussing controversial topics in a civil manner, love the Lord (but still say the occasional curse word), have a penchant for ’90s music, and consider the TV show “Portlandia” brilliant (hint hint: Tricia!), message me.